One of the biggest and most impressive Lego sets of recent years is also a 2-in-1 recreation of the White City of Gondor, from the Lord of the Rings movies.
There haven’t been that many Lord of the Rings Lego sets in recent years but when they do get released they’re always worth the wait. Now the movies are decades old (Fellowship of the Ring celebrates its 25th anniversary this year), all the new sets tend to be aimed at adults, with the gigantic Barad-dûr set or the homely The Shire diorama.
For a long time, the Rivendell set has been considered not only the best Lords of the Rings model, but one of the best Lego designs ever. However, it now has a rival with an amazing recreation of Minas Tirith, which was a key location in the story and central to the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
What’s so impressive about the set is that it works on two separate scales, with the front built into the enormous cliff you’ll recognise from the films, but once you turn it around the scale changes to properly accommodate minifigures and show off the throne room.
The set is made up of 8,278 pieces and measures 59cm high, 62cm wide, and 37cm deep. So you’re going to need a big shelf to put it on, once you finally build the thing.
As well as the model itself, the set comes with 10 minifigures, including Gandalf the White, Faramir, Denethor, Peregrin, Aragorn as King Elessar (with his distinctive crown), Arwen, and four soldiers of Gondor. You also get Shadowfax, Gandalf’s legendary horse.
The White City of Gondor looks just like it does in the films, so you can recreate scenes such as Aragorn’s coronation, the assault on the city by the orcs, and Denethor’s long run to jump off the top.
Minas Tirith will be released on June 4 from Lego stores and the Lego website, although you can get it a few days earlier, on June 1, if you’re a Lego Insider, which only requires a free sign-up.
The set costs £579.99, which is inevitable given its size and the cost of the Lord of the Rings licence, but if you buy it between June 1 and 7 then you’ll get a free gift with purchase of Grond, the infamous battering ram of the orcs, that isn’t available any other way.
Also, if you go to the Lego Store in Leicester Square on June 1 at 10am you can buy the set and get it signed by Lego designer François Zapf, who’ll be there that day to meet fans.
If you’re still not convinced then there’s a livestream planned for May 12, at 5pm BST, that will feature the design team and, if you’re a Lego Insider, the chance to enter a sweepstake to win a trip to the Hobbiton Movie Set in New Zealand.
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